A brief biography of Gary Glynn

As you have probably guessed by now, my name is Gary Glynn. I am the author of Montana’s Home Front During World War II, Historic Photos of Montana, and Remembering Montana. My work has appeared in Montana Magazine, American History Magazine, World War II magazine, Aviation History, America’s Civil War, and many other publications. I wrote the “Home Front” column for the Missoulian newspaper from 1991 to 1994, and was a major contributor to that newspaper’s “Greatest Generation” series of special editions. I am currently at work on That Beautiful Little Post: The Story of Fort Missoula. Once upon a time many years ago I graduated from the University of Montana School of Forestry. I served as Scoutmaster of BSA Troop 1911 for three years, and spent ten years on the Missoula County Board of Trustees for the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. On this blog you will find information on all of my books, plus a small selection of previously published articles.

Thanks for dropping by.

Gary Glynn

gjglynn@gmail.com

2 thoughts on “A brief biography of Gary Glynn”

Heard years ago about possible residue or remnants of Japanese incendiary bombs in the national forest south of Bozeman, and knew about the fatal detonation of an incendiary near Bly, Oregon. From a recent book about General MacArthur’s regency in Japan after the war, I learned that Japan planned a full-bore bio-invasion of the US west coast. According to the author, who provided no supporting citation, the LA water supply was sabotaged early in the war with bio-warfare contaminants derived at Unit 731 in Manchuria, but the germs were probably too diluted and dispersed to kill anybody. Near the end of the war, according to the author, Japan was going to use submarine-borne aircraft to attack our west coast directly with anthrax, plague, etc.

Question: Can you tell me reliable sources verifying attempted contamination of LA’s water supply? Question 2: Can you give me more information about balloon/s at Lodge Grass? Grew up a stone’s throw or short ride from Lodge Grass and would appreciate more information.

Thanks for your comment. First of all, the balloon bomb at Lodge Grass was found on or about Feb. 2, 1945, two weeks after another bomb was found at Lame Deer. These would have been some of the very first balloon bombs discovered. As far as I know there was no mention of this discovery in any Montana newspaper, which would not be surprising since the authorities wanted to keep knowledge of the balloon bombs top secret in order not to alarm people. The Big Horn County Museum might have more information on this discovery. It is ironic that while the bombs were designed to create massive forest fires, most of the bombs found in Montana were released during the winter or early spring when fire danger was very low.

I had never heard of a bio-weapons attack on the LA water system, although the Japanese had clearly been using large-scale chemical, and to a lesser extent, biological weapons in China for some time. I have read that they considered using balloon bombs to drop infested fleas on the United States, but don’t know of any evidence that they actually did this. I believe some Japanese leaders were concerned that the United States would retaliate in-kind if attacked by chemical or biological weapons. The plan to attack Southern California (specifically San Diego) with bio-weapons from submarine launched aircraft was well-developed, but the war ended before it could be carried out. For more information on this plan and Unit 731 I would suggest a fairly recent article from the New York Times.